Ritterkreuzträger

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Oberst
im Generalstab Heinrich Wittmer (28 February 1910 - 27 June 1992) is a
Luftwaffe bomber ace who received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes
on 12 November 1941 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur III.Gruppe /
Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG 55) "Greif". He was awarded the prestigious medal
for his success as a bomber pilot in missions against England in 1940
(where his bombers particularly distinguished themselves in an attack on
the Westland aircraft factory in Yeovil) and against the Soviet Union
in the summer of 1941. He flew a total of 184 combat missions in his
entire active military career.

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Heinrich Eberbach as Oberstleutnant and Commander of Panzer-Regiment 35 / 4.Panzer-Division, after receiving the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 July 1940. This picture is actually showing Eberbach still as a Major in 1935, but then it retouched with added Ritterkreuz in his neck and rangstern on his schulterklappen.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Generaloberst Georg Lindemann riding a horse while holding a goblet. He is wearing a stahlhelm M18 Kavalleriehelm. In 1936, Lindemann was promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 36th Infantry Division which took part in the Invasion of France. Lindemann was promoted to full General and given command of the L Army Corps. In June 1941, at the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Lindemann's Corps was a part of Army Group North. Lindemann commanded the corps during the advance towards Leningrad. His unit was briefly shifted to the command of Army Group Centre during the Battle of Smolensk. Lindemann's corps was then shifted back to Army Group North. On 16 January 1942, Lindemann took the command of the 18th Army, a part of Army Group North. In the summer of 1942, he was promoted to Generaloberst. Lindemann commanded the 18th Army throughout the campaigns around Leningrad and during the January 1944 retreat from the Oranienbaum Bridgehead to Narva. He was promoted to command of Army Group North on 31 March 1944. On 4 July 1944, he was relieved and transferred to the Reserve Army. On 1 February 1945, he was appointed to the command of all German troops in Denmark as the "Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in Denmark". Germany surrendered unconditionally in northwest Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark on 5 May 1945. Lindemann was then given the task of dismantling the German occupation of Denmark until 6 June 1945, when he was arrested at his headquarters in Silkeborg. He was held in American custody until 1948. Lindemann died in 1963 in Freudenstadt, West Germany

Monday, June 10, 2019

A colorized picture of Egon Mayer by Mihaly Gherman. Mayer (19 August 1917 – 2 March 1944) was a Luftwaffe wing commander and fighter ace of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was credited with 102 enemy aircraft shot down in over 353 combat missions. His victories were all claimed over the Western Front and included 26 four-engine bombers, 51 Supermarine Spitfires and 12 P-47 Thunderbolts. Mayer was the first fighter pilot to score 100 victories entirely on the Western Front.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

From left to right: Sanitätsfeldwebel Franz Schmitz and SS-Obersturmbannführer Dr.-med. Ferdinand Berning (Führer beim Sanitätsdienst im SS-Hauptamt). Schmitz received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 13 September 1943 as a Sanitäts-Unteroffizier and Gruppenführer in 3.Kompanie / I.Bataillon / Grenadier-Regiment 279 / 95.Infanterie-Division. In this picture, Schmitz is wearing a Tätigkeitsabzeichen des Heeres (Specialist-badge of the Army) of Sanitätsunter- personal (Medic Personnel). The picture was taken in April 1944.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

An
Austrian, like many of the brave soldiers of the Waffen-SS, Sylvester
Stadler (30 December 1910 – 23 August 1995) was born in the Steiermark
region. He entered the SS in 1933 before his homeland was annexed into
the Reich. In August 1940, SS-Hauptsturmführer Stadler assumed command
of SS-Regiment Der Führer. In the summer of 1941, SS-Division Reich was
attacking in full force at Jelnja, Minsk, Orscha, Kiev and Smolensk,
where Stadler and his company proved themselves. Stadler then
participated in the difficult and bloody fighting outside of Moscow,
before he was part of the famous defensive action of the regiment at
Cholm and Welikje Luki. Together with some of the best divisions on the
Eastern Front, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich participated in
fighting to retake Kharkov in early 1943. For repeated demonstrations of
bravery at the head of his battalion and for his outstanding leadership
during the Kharkov battles, Stadler was awarded the Ritterkreuz on
April 6 1943. A few weeks later SS-Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser
informed him that he was being designated the regimental commander of
SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment Der Führer. Stadler could only stammer:
Aren´t I too young for that? Hausser replied with a smile: Nonsense,
Stadler! Think of the great Napoleon. He wasn´t much older than you…
Stadler, of course, proved to be more than up to the job. Promoted
SS-Obersturmbannführer on 20 April 1943, Stadler excelled in all of the
engagements and battles through his initiative, bravery and loyalty to
his men. During the next few months, Stadler led his battalions west of
Kharkov and during the offensive against Kursk itself. He received the
Eichenlaub for his Ritterkreuz only five months after having been
awarded the Ritterkreuz! He was the 17th member of the Waffen-SS to be
so honored. The award of at least one, possible two, Tank Destruction
Strips also demonstrated the impressive personal commitment to duty far
beyond the duty description of a battalion or regimental commander. On
12 December 1943, SS-Obersturmbannführer Stadler became the 35th soldier
of the German armed forces to receive the Nahkampfspange in Gold when
he hit the threshold of 50 days of close combat.
On 30 January
1944 he was promoted SS-Standartenführer and on 10 July 1944 he was made
commander of the elite 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen. At the age of
33, he was one of the youngest officers in the Waffen-SS to hold this
rank! At the end of 1944, Stadler´s panzers participated in the Ardennes
Offensive. During the offensive, the SS-Oberführer Sylvester Stadler
once again demonstrated his sense of military fairness, in which he
exchanged wounded U.S. soldiers for captured soldiers of his division. A
short while later, Hohenstaufen was dispatched to the 6.SS-Panzer-Armee
west of Budapest. When he received order to pull back to the west in
the face of the sheer hopelessness of the situation he did not carry out
the order. Instead, he launched a risky relief attack on
Stuhlweißenburg, which allowed the withdrawal of the German forces
encircled there. The first-class frontline SS-officer Sylvester Stadler
received the Schwerter to the Ritterkreuz, as the 23rd officer of the
Waffen-SS. Shortly afterwards he was promoted SS-Brigadeführer. On 4 May
1945 he negotiated a ceasefire with American forces and received
assurances that 9.SS-Panzerdivision Hohenstaufen would go into U.S.
captivity. He was released from captivity in 1948 and started a life as a
businessman. The family man with two sons died on 23 August 1995 in
Augsburg.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The
first arrival of the German delegation to the headquarters of the
British 21st Army Group in the Lüneburger Heide (Luneburg Heath), east
of Hamburg, to discuss a ceasefire on May 3, 1945. The Germans offer to
surrender the Heeresgruppe Vistula - who was surrounded by Soviet troops
- to the Allies, was rejected by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
(Commander of the 21st Army Group), because he wanted the unconditional
surrender of German troops in the north-west Germany, as well as in the
Netherlands and Denmark. The German delegation replied that they were
not given the power to determine this, and had to negotiate it first
with their leader, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz (the successor to Hitler who
committed suicide a few days earlier). Finally Montgomery allowed them
to return home, and gave 24 hours for the answers to be given. This
photo was taken by Captain E.G. Malindine (British No. 5 Army Film and
Photographic Unit) and shows Marshal Montgomery standing second from the
left, while the German delegation starts with their leader
Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (Oberbefehlshaber der
Kriegsmarine) who holding the document in the middle, followed to the
right as follow: General der Infanterie Eberhard Kinzel (Chef des
Generalstabes Operationsstab Nord), Konteradmiral Gerhard Wagner
(Admiral z.b.V. Beim Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine), and Major i.G.
Hans Jochen Friedel (half visible, Stabsoffizier Operationsstab Nord).